So, a different question, does anyone know if TWC in Raleigh still requires a truck roll for CableCard installs or has anyone been able to just pick it up at the counter? Has anyone been able to pick up a CableCard from the TWC counter anywhere?

Still requires a truck roll though considering it took them almost 8 hours to an M-card working, I'm pretty sure they lost money on the install fee on this one. (One small victory for us... )

Can someone post a pic of what a motorola m-card looks like? The TW guy left at 8:30pm (he has been here since 6:00pm) and my cable cards still are not working right. We tried 4 different cards. The cable card operator said they where m-cards and set the system up that way. The local dispatcher said they are m-cards, however; my TiVo says they are s-cards. The TW guy and I agreed that the M on the card was just the motorola logo, same one that is on the razr. The TW guy rescheduled an appointment for my tomorrow at 3:30pm and he is going to come out again. I'm hoping that the local cable card dude knows what to do. He goes home at 5pm. Again I'm looking for a way to tell from just looking at the cable card if it is an m-card or s-card.

Can someone post a pic of what a motorola m-card looks like? The TW guy left at 8:30pm (he has been here since 6:00pm) and my cable cards still are not working right. We tried 4 different cards. The cable card operator said they where m-cards and set the system up that way. The local dispatcher said they are m-cards, however; my TiVo says they are s-cards. The TW guy and I agreed that the M on the card was just the motorola logo, same one that is on the razr. The TW guy rescheduled an appointment for my tomorrow at 3:30pm and he is going to come out again. I'm hoping that the local cable card dude knows what to do. He goes home at 5pm. Again I'm looking for a way to tell from just looking at the cable card if it is an m-card or s-card.

You didnt say which TiVo you have. The S3 will always call an M-Card an S-Card as it uses it in S-Card mode.

CABLEGUY763 --- I am here in austin and want to say thank you for all your help with the TWC customers on this forum. It goes way beyond the call of duty. If you are ever at the draught house or gingerman here in austin give me a shout out, you will have an open invitation for a pint on me. or if homebrew is your thing I will set you some aside the next time i brew. You deserve it. I cannot imagine where most of these people would be right now with out the help of a cableguy763. A BIG SHOUT OUT AND THANK YOU!!! I am sure this goes for alot of other people on this forum as well.

You didnt say which TiVo you have. The S3 will always call an M-Card an S-Card as it uses it in S-Card mode.

I have an HD TiVo. I still would like to see a pic or a way to physically exam a cable card and tell if it is an M-card or S-card. The pic on the motorola website shows M-Cards as being red and saying M-Card on them, but I'm not sure if that is the real image or a placeholder image.

I currently have only 1 card installed, and it is allowing me to tune any non-encrytped channels, however; when I look at the conditional access screen I do not have a vaild host number, and most fields are either unknown or 0. The connected field says yes.

Last edited by Lorcane : 02-14-2008 at 06:39 AM.
Reason: Thought of more to add

I have a Series 3 Tivo, which I am trying to get hooked up with Time Warner Cable (formerly Adelphia) in Northeast Ohio. I had an installer out last weekend to install the CableCARDs. He brought two S-cards, the first worked immediately, the second started a firmware upgrade, which the Tivo said could take up to an hour to complete. The installer left while this was in progress and told me that I would likely need to call into their office to get my cards activated once the update was complete. After 9 hours of waiting for the upgrade, I gave up, ejected the bad card and happily used my Tivo in single tuner mode while waiting for another truck roll to replace the bad card.

I had the installer scheduled to come last night between 6pm and 8pm - so that I could be home to make sure it went well. The installer called my house at 4:00 and asked my wife if he could come by early. She agreed - i had given her basic instructions in case i was late. When the installer got there, he confidently told her that the problem was that our tivo didn't need two S cards, it needed 1 M-card. She had no reason to doubt him and he even showed her a variety of channels as "evidence" that it worked. Of course, they didn't try the dual tuner functionality - as that wouldn't have been possible with a single M-Card in a Series 3.

So, I get home. See that clearly there is only one tuner working and call Time Warner back. After 20 minutes on the phone waiting for the CS rep to relay my questions to "dispatch", I'm told that two turners simply wont work in my tivo and that if I want more of an explaination than that, I will have to wait 48 hours for someone to call me to give me an explaination - i'm not holding my breath.

I called back to CS and got a different rep. Asked to scehedule another CableCARD install and was told that my account was flagged and that they refused to provide a second card.

I had to get them involved with my initial installation. Be polite but firm and you'll get results.

Thank you very much! That was exactly what I was looking for.

Update: It took a little over a week, but TW responded to my letter of complaint. They say that they will be sending "their best technician" with another CC this coming Tuesday (3/4/2008). Will update again with the results. Thanks again dm-mm.

Yippie...
Got 1 cable card working in my TiVoHD. took an hour talking with the tech's tech over the phone. I'm glad the guy who first tried to installed my cable cards left me that number. I did have to reboot the TiVoHD after the card finally got subscribed, for some reason the wrong tuner in the TiVoHD got assigned to the wrong cable card. The guy I talked to on the phone couldn't tell me how to visually inspect a cable card and know if its an M-card or S-card. He said they all look the same. At least now I have all my HBO and encrypted channels. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the 2nd card up and running.

Dealing with HD Tivo and TWC has been the worst experience! After about 25 visits they finally got my 3 Tivo's working. It definitely was more trouble than it's worth. In a year I plan to switch back to DirecTV.

Dealing with HD Tivo and TWC has been the worst experience! After about 25 visits they finally got my 3 Tivo's working. It definitely was more trouble than it's worth. In a year I plan to switch back to DirecTV.

I don't think it is TiVo's fault. I last night I finally found someone who knew what they were doing... took 30 minutes to get the card intialized, activated and subscribed. TWC needs to train their people better in the region where I live. What worries me is in the Austin area a few hundred miles north of me, TWC is starting to used alot of the digital switch channels. My line up only as a few, like the west coast HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime. I'm not sure if TWC is doing that because they need more channels or if they just want to make us cable card user suffer more for not using their cable boxes. Either way my region is so far behind, we only have about 12 HD channels in the line up.

Hey everyone! I've been reading over pretty much this whole post and it's been totally helpful. I'm currently a TW Digital Cable subscriber with DVR-STB and am really considering the move to Tivo. I wanted to just reconfirm some things that are kind of lingering for me.

Going Tivo with TW CableCard is definitely cheaper than using the STB right? I'm really trying to cut back on bills

Also, with the CC... the way it works is that the CC(s) are plugged in to the Tivo and I receive programming through that. And the cost of the CC's vary, but seems like they are around $1.75 in my area (Huntington Beach, CA). Is there any other programming costs on top of that $1.75/mo? Like does it work the same as the STB where I have to pay certain amounts for certain Tiers? Or does the CC gives me all the channels it's capable of and I'm simply just paying the $1.75/mo?

I really appreciate how helpful this thread and forum has been and I'm really looking forward to joining the Tivo community!

I'm considering moving from my TWC Explorer 8300HD to a Tivo S3 for the better video quality but a woman from TWC (that did not appear to be very knowledgable) told me in addition to losing In-Demand that there would be other HD channels that I would lose. She couldn't get specific on which ones - it sounded like a lame job of keeping me from switching to Tivo -

Is anyone aware of channels that are unavailable if using Tivo S3 and CC's?

Hey everyone! I've been reading over pretty much this whole post and it's been totally helpful. I'm currently a TW Digital Cable subscriber with DVR-STB and am really considering the move to Tivo. I wanted to just reconfirm some things that are kind of lingering for me.

Going Tivo with TW CableCard is definitely cheaper than using the STB right? I'm really trying to cut back on bills

Also, with the CC... the way it works is that the CC(s) are plugged in to the Tivo and I receive programming through that. And the cost of the CC's vary, but seems like they are around $1.75 in my area (Huntington Beach, CA). Is there any other programming costs on top of that $1.75/mo? Like does it work the same as the STB where I have to pay certain amounts for certain Tiers? Or does the CC gives me all the channels it's capable of and I'm simply just paying the $1.75/mo?

I really appreciate how helpful this thread and forum has been and I'm really looking forward to joining the Tivo community!

Micah

The TiVo with CableCARDs will replace your set top box. Whether it will be cheaper monthly with TiVo subscription + CableCARD rentals, not counting the cost of the TiVo, depends on what you have now, and what service tiers you have - a cable DVR often costs more than a TiVo, but a cable box will generally cost less. You'd need to look at the costs where you live.

You will still need to subscribe to the tiers, just like with a cable box. The only thing the CableCARDs do is replace the cable box.

I'm considering moving from my TWC Explorer 8300HD to a Tivo S3 for the better video quality but a woman from TWC (that did not appear to be very knowledgable) told me in addition to losing In-Demand that there would be other HD channels that I would lose. She couldn't get specific on which ones - it sounded like a lame job of keeping me from switching to Tivo -

Is anyone aware of channels that are unavailable if using Tivo S3 and CC's?

Any plans on the S3 being functional w/bi-directional CC's?

Thanks for your expertise!

From reading other ppls posts, many of the cable companies are adding new channels by using Switched Digital Video (SDV) Cablecards can't tune those channels in, because they are unidirectional, and SDV requires bidirectional connection. However, the sales rep should have been able to tell you which stations are SDV, so her ability to be specific was a load of bull$%(@.

[quote=Pars22;5987299]I'm considering moving from my TWC Explorer 8300HD to a Tivo S3 for the better video quality but a woman from TWC (that did not appear to be very knowledgable) told me in addition to losing In-Demand that there would be other HD channels that I would lose. She couldn't get specific on which ones - it sounded like a lame job of keeping me from switching to Tivo -

Is anyone aware of channels that are unavailable if using Tivo S3 and CC's?

Any plans on the S3 being functional w/bi-directional CC's?

Thanks for your expertise![/QUOTE

Depending on your area, SDV (switched digital video) seems to be causing many problems with receiving some HD channels. Read the SDV thread, you wil learn a lot.

I bought a TivoHD and got the Mcard all set up and going. Next billing cycle my monthly bill jumped some 40 bucks. After a few calls, they get it back to where it was. Next bill, back up again. Few calls later they admit that since I no longer have a "box" that the promo price I was getting is null and void. They said they couldn't override the system. Talked with a manager and said she would send me a cable box and I get my promo price for a year. After all was said and done, I ended up with a cheaper monthly rate by getting the box (no charge). So, I do have my Tivo going and just have the box on another input.

I'm considering moving from my TWC Explorer 8300HD to a Tivo S3 for the better video quality but a woman from TWC (that did not appear to be very knowledgable) told me in addition to losing In-Demand that there would be other HD channels that I would lose. She couldn't get specific on which ones - it sounded like a lame job of keeping me from switching to Tivo -

Is anyone aware of channels that are unavailable if using Tivo S3 and CC's?

Any plans on the S3 being functional w/bi-directional CC's?

Thanks for your expertise!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorcane

From reading other ppls posts, many of the cable companies are adding new channels by using Switched Digital Video (SDV) Cablecards can't tune those channels in, because they are unidirectional, and SDV requires bidirectional connection. However, the sales rep should have been able to tell you which stations are SDV, so her ability to be specific was a load of bull$%(@.

Just to clear up some confusion here. Its not the cable card thats the problem. Cable cards will work unidirectional or bi-directional. Its the device that needs to be bi-directional. The tivo HD and series 3 are not bi-directional devices so PPV, On-Demand, and SDV will not work as is. The tuner resolver is supposed to fix the SDV issue.

If tivo were to go bi-directional, it would probably be in a future release of the hardware.

__________________
Visit To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. for great classical music in an original plantation house.

I'm considering moving from my TWC Explorer 8300HD to a Tivo S3 for the better video quality but a woman from TWC (that did not appear to be very knowledgable) told me in addition to losing In-Demand that there would be other HD channels that I would lose. She couldn't get specific on which ones - it sounded like a lame job of keeping me from switching to Tivo -

Is anyone aware of channels that are unavailable if using Tivo S3 and CC's?

Any plans on the S3 being functional w/bi-directional CC's?

Thanks for your expertise!

You lose TBS, A&E, and MTV HD channels here in Charlotte NC. That's 3 but well worth the loss. The TWC DVR is absolute junk. We tried them.

You lose TBS, A&E, and MTV HD channels here in Charlotte NC. That's 3 but well worth the loss. The TWC DVR is absolute junk. We tried them.

Hmm, interesting. Here in Raleigh we get TBS, A&E, and MTV HD. Originally we couldn't get them but within the last couple of months they have been available on through the cable card. Although as SCSIRAID said somewhere on here they changed the compression and quality of other channels to do this. I don't watch them anyway so they I don't care that they are active or not except if I am going to be paying to have them, I expect to be able to watch them.

__________________
Visit To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. for great classical music in an original plantation house.

Just got the 2nd cablecard up and running on my TiVoHD. The technician was told but the phone operator that TiVos and Motorola cards have an issue. Supposedly the cards or the TiVo will lose the channel list. A reboot is required to get them back. Anyone know about this problem?

i purchased a TiVo HD Box and ordered two cablecards from Time Warner Cable.
They first send a tech to install the cablecards, he was not able to get it to work. The next day they sent two techs. i was told by the techs that the Tivo will not work with their cablecards, and i will have to use one of their motorola dvr box. Is there anyone in inglewood having the same problem. Time Warner Cable needs to contract more professional installers!!!!

Just an update. In the Milwaukee, WI. area I'm now getting the 5 additional HD channels that I had lost when switching from the Scientific Atlanta to my TIVO's. They must have taken these 5 channels OFF of the SDV network. Now I don't have to wait for the tuner resolver. I'm now getting ESPN2 HD, TBS HD, HGTV HD, HDT HD, A&E HD. I just noticed this yesterday but it had to have been within the last few days at the most that Time Warner started sending them.